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The Disappearing Chestnut 



Previous to the clisuoveiy of tlic deadly iiatiii-e of tlio cliestnut tree 

 bark disease, the lumberman and the forester looked with favor u[ion 

 the chestnut tree. The lnml)erman regarded the ehestnut as a valuable 

 timber tree — not so valuable as the yellow poplar or some of the oaks, 

 certainly not in the class with cherry and walnut, but a good standby 

 because of its abundance and its many uses. In the woodlot the chest- 

 nut was regarded by the farmer with favor and in many sections it was 

 the standard wood for farm uses. The forester considered the chest- 

 nut among the most desirable of hardwood trees because of its rapid 

 growth, and the ease with which it could be reproduced. All tliat was 

 necessary was to cut it in fall or winter with low clean stumps, and 

 if the trees were not too old an abundant crop of sprouts would 

 rapidly grow up to take their places. 



Now that the ravages of the bark disease in the \orth and those 

 of fire and insects in the South have destroyed so nincli \;iluable chest- 

 nut growth the lumberman, the 

 forester, the farmer, indeed all 

 thoughtful people are continually 

 inquiring : "Is the chestnut tree 

 doomed? Is this tree, so valua- 

 ble and familiar, going to become 

 extinct or so rare as to be inter- 

 esting rather than valuable?" 



Of course time alone can finally 

 answer this question, but a care- 

 ful sifting of the evidence may 

 give us an idea of what the an- 

 swer will be. 



When the grave nature of the 

 blight was realized strong efforts 

 were made to control it. The fed- 

 eral government and several of 

 the states S]ient large sums of 

 money in the attempt. The fed- 

 eral government twice appropri- 

 ated $80,000 to be used solely to 

 study the problem, while the state 

 of Pennsylvania at one time ap- 

 propriated over a quarter million 

 of dollars to try to suppress it 

 in that state. These efforts have 

 been largely in vain as far as 

 actually cheeking the disease is 

 concerned. Large scale attempts 

 to control it have now largely 

 been abandoned, and the chestnut 

 has been left to its fate. 



It seems, however, that individ- 

 ual shade and ornamental trees 

 may here and there be saved by 

 continued spraying if they have 



not already been attacked, and that it may be jiossible to save chest- 

 nut orchards in the same way. Small outbreaks of the blight where 

 only a few trees are attacked on a small area far ahead of the main 

 advance of the disease may be eradicated by destroying the diseased 

 trees, as has been done in North Carolina as mentioned below, but 

 even this will not save them in the long run if the main advance of 

 the disease finally comes that way, for when it has obtained a firm 

 foothold in a section there has so far been discovered no way of 

 stopping it, short of destroying all the chestnut trees. 



In Pennsylvania attempts are now being made simply to utilize 

 the chestnut timber before it is entirely destroyed. In New- England 

 the forester has already crossed the ehestnut off the list of desirable 

 trees and is removing it from the forest as rapidly as possible, mean- 

 while discussing the merits of other trees to be encouraged to take 

 its place. 



In the South the situation as regards the blight is not yet so desper- 



yoiNd CIIKSTXT'T SI'ROITS KII.I.KP IIV THE CIIKSTM'T ULUillT. 



ate. Its "farthest south" is, so far as is known, in central North 

 Carolina, where in the spnng of 191.3 a small outbreak was discovered 

 which has since been eradicated by destroying the diseased trees. In 

 Virginia the blight is scattered here and there over the state, but has by 

 no means done the damage which it has further north, due, perhaps 

 to the fight made against it by the state authorities, perhaps to natural 

 conditions. It is thought, however, to be slowly gaining ground there 

 as elsewdiere. 



In any event tlie southward progress of the blight fortunately has 

 been uuich slower than its northwanl. There is a theory that this is 

 due to the increased percentage of tannin in the southern trees, but 

 it is nut definitely proven. Some think that this will cause the disease 

 to become continually less virulent as it advances southward and that 

 it will not invade the splendid hardwood forests of the southern moun- 

 tains, (ir at least that its progress there will be much slower and less 



destructive. 



Howe\er, the chestnut in the 

 South has other enemies which 

 are destroying it as surely if not 

 as rapidly as the blight itself. 

 Every lumberman in the South is 

 familiar with their work, although 

 he usually confuses It with that 

 of the blight. These enemies 

 have been jointly responsible for 

 the destruction of millions of feet 

 of the finest chestnut timber, and 

 have totally or practically exter- 

 minated the tree over wide 

 stretches of country where for- 

 merly it was common. 



At the beginning of the nine- 

 teenth century chestnut was found 

 as far south as Florida and Louis- 

 iana and very likely grew along 

 the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Recently the writer found a 

 few straggling and dying chest- 

 nut trees in southern Mississippi 

 close to the Louisiana state line, 

 in a region far southwest of any 

 recent reports of its occurrence. 

 Survey notes of an old govern- 

 ment survey of the region made 

 about the time of the War of 

 1812 mention corners witnessed 

 by blazes on chestnut trees. In 

 retracing these old surveys re 

 cently we could locate the origi- 

 nal corners, but no trace of the 

 chestnut trees remained. The old 

 iidiabitants said that in their youth there were many dead chestnut 

 trees scattered throughout the woods, thus proving that at one time 

 the tree was not rare in a region where in recent years it has been so 

 I'ire nc to escape notice. 



On ihe Atlantic seaboard chestnut was found as far east as the 

 loa.stal plain of the Carolinas, and possibly at no very remote time 

 grew along the shores of the sounds and lagoons which form their inner 

 coast. 



On the west, too, the range of the chestnut seems to have once been 

 much wider than at present. There is reason for thinking that it once 

 grew west of the Mississippi in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas, 

 although today it occurs only east of the great river. 



Even before the Civil war it was noticed that in certain sections of 

 the South the chestnuts were mysteriously dying off. At first the leaves 

 of a few trees would turn yellow in midsummer and soon fall off. The 

 next year those trees would not put out. In a few years a whole 



